“I wanted to be part of the world, but I didn’t see anyone like me in it,” one of the characters featured in “Crip Camp” says in a new trailer for the documentary. Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s Sundance winner tells the untold story of how a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, located just down the road from Woodstock in the early ’70s, sparked a revolution.
“Even when we were that young, we helped empower each other. It was allowing us to recognize that the status quo is not what it needed to be,” a Camp Jened alumna recalls. Being at the camp showed the teens that their lives “could be better” — and they became inspired to demand a civil rights law of their own. “We will no longer allow the government to oppress disabled individuals,” activists tell the press.
Newnham’s other credits include “The Revolutionary Optimists” and “Sentenced Home.” She co-directed the former with Maren Grainger-Monsen and the latter with David Grabias.
“Crip Camp” took home the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary at Sundance in January. Barack and Michelle Obama are among its exec producers. The doc launches on Netflix March 25.
